European Commission updates the European Parliament on EU securities finance rules

October 22, 2017Anna Reitman

Overall conclusions:

To a large extent, the FSB recommendations on SFTs have been addressed in the EU through the adoption of SFTR and specific provisions in sectoral financial services legislation and guidelines. As such, there does not seem to be a need for further regulatory action at this stage.

As regards the cross-sector qualitative standards for the calculation of haircuts and the introduction of numerical haircut floors, an assessment of the need for and the scope of a potential regulatory action in this field should be based on comprehensive and detailed data on SFT markets which will be available once the SFTR reporting obligation becomes effective.

Moreover, the current market dynamics reinforce the need for a certain degree of caution and robust evidence when reflecting on regulatory action implying quantitative requirements. Progress at international level is comparable to the EU (i.e. in the early assessment phase) and no other region has taken a decision on regulatory action on haircut floors at this stage.

If applicable, the introduction of numerical haircut floors should ideally happen in a globally coordinated manner to avoid compromising a level playing field or putting market participants in the ‘first-moving’ jurisdiction at a competitive disadvantage.

The Commission will continue to thoroughly monitor developments in SFT markets and the international regulatory space. The Commission will reassess the added value of qualitative standards and haircut floors on the basis of a report to be prepared by ESMA once comprehensive SFT data is available.